Office Refurbishment Questions
Office Refurbishment Questions
If you’re planning to refurbish your company’s office, you'll have a lot of questions. Office refurbishments can be complex projects, and there are a lot of factors to consider and decisions to make.
The consequences of your project going wrong could be disastrous for you and your company. It’s important you make well-informed decisions so that your office refurbishment is a success.
We’ve been refurbishing offices in London and across the UK since 2008, working for companies such as MTI, Campbell Lutyens and Pcubed, along with many others. In all of these projects, we worked through many questions from different groups of stakeholders.
Here, we have compiled the most common questions we get asked about office refurbishment along with our answers. Covering everything from cost and finance to choosing a design style, this article will give you a basic understanding of office refurbishment at your company. You can research specific topics further as you need in our learning centre.
What is Office Refurbishment?
Office refurbishment is about adapting your existing office to suit your changing needs. It is different from office fit out, which takes a blank space and turns it into a ready-to-use space.
Office refurbishment is a broad term and can cover a huge variety of works. There are 3 main types of office refurbishment:
- Strip out & Fit Out: Stripping your existing office back to its Cat A state, and then installing an entirely new workspace.
- Mid-Touch Refurbishment: Combining elements already existing in your space with new components to suit the changing needs of your business.
- Reconfiguration/ Churn: reconfiguring certain areas of your office (eg., adding desks), or replacing high-wear elements like carpet.
Do I Need an Office Refurbishment?
A question many of our clients wrestle with is 'Do we actually need to do this project?'. Sometimes, the answer is obvious. If on the other hand, your office has become outdated years but there are no obvious issues, then your decision is more difficult.
Based on our experience, there are 3 main reasons companies do an office refurbishment:
- They have the wrong size office
- They have the wrong office layout
- Their office is outdated/ off-brand
There are also 3 common reasons companies decide not to carry out an office refurbishment:
- The cost is too high
- The new design does not solve the problem
- The time is not right because of external factors
To learn more about these 6 factors and how to decide if an office refurbishment is right for you, read Is Now the Right Time to Refurbish My Office?
How Much Does Office Refurbishment Cost?
Because the scope of office refurbishment is so variable, the costs are also very variable. It depends on many factors, from the size of your space to temporary supply issues in the construction industry. There are 6 key factors that will control the cost of your office renovation: scope, size, state, specification, services, and setting.
Based on projects we’ve worked on recently, most mid-touch refurbishments will range from £24 to £56 sq/ft excluding furniture. A low-specification version would cost around 20% less. A high specification could be an uplift of 50%. To learn more, read How Much Will it Cost to Refurbish My Office in 2024?
How Long Does Office Refurbishment Take?
An office refurbishment can be a big investment of time and effort as well as money. The key factors affecting the timeframe of your office refurbishment will be the size of the refurbished area and the scope of work.
If you are carrying out a small churn project, such as adding an individual office, the entire project could take as little as a fortnight, with the work taking 2 days. A mid-touch refurbishment will probably take around 3-6 months from start to finish. A full-scale strip out and fit out project, meanwhile, is likely to take 10-12 months. To learn more about office refurbishment timescales, read How Long Does an Office Refurbishment Take?
What are the Main Steps of Office Refurbishment?
For managers and companies without previous experience in office refurbishments, the process can seem confusing and overcomplicated. This is because there is much more to an office refurbishment than meets the eye.
The key steps involve planning, design, licenses & approvals, works, and commissioning. What is involved within each of these will be completely dependent on the scope of your refurbishment. To learn more about each stage, read Step by Step: The Office Refurbishment Process.
How do You Plan for an Office Refurbishment?
Office refurbishment success is almost impossible without careful and detailed planning. Without the right brief, your office move will not be a success, regardless of whether it meets your budget or your timelines, or neither. Careful technical and logistical planning is also crucial to make sure your proejct is a smooth success.
To learn more about the office refurbishment planning process, read this article. For a more in-depth guide on planning your project, get your own copy of How to Plan an Office Refurbishment. There, you’ll find the 7-step process we guide our clients through when planning their office refurbishments.
How can We Minimise Disruption During the Project?
When we speak to companies about their upcoming office refurbishments, one of the most common concerns we encounter is the disruption that their proejct might cause for their people and overall company. This is a valid concern, as a poorly planned or managed project could wreak havoc at your company.
There are 5 key elements to minimising disruption during your office refurbishment: effective planning, clear communication, choosing an appropriate refurbishment partner, and protecting your people. To learn more about each and how to apply them to your project, read this article.
Which Office Design Style Is Best?
Unfortunately, there is no one “best” office design style. Which design style is best for you will vary depending on your company. It depends on how your people use the office and what business challenges you are facing. Your brand is also crucial.
As well as the aesthetic design of your workspace, you should also consider which layout and environment design styles are best for your company. To maximise the performance of your people, your office should bring your brand to life, and match the way they work. For more information, read Which Office Design Style is Best For Me?
How Do I Choose a Refurbishment Contractor?
Choosing the design and build company for your office refurbishment is a big decision. There are hundreds of different office refurbishment companies, all with different specialisms, cost structures, and customer care. Making the wrong decision may lead to high costs, long timeframes and/or an inappropriate design.
When making your decision, it’s crucial to be objective. You should always compare companies against the brief rather than against each other. To learn more about how to select the right company for your refurbishment, read How to Choose an Office Refurbishment Company: 11 Key Criteria.
Can I Finance An Office Refurbishment?
An office refurbishment can be a big upfront investment, so it’s worth looking at various ways to finance your project. If it is a relatively small project, it will normally be simplest and cheapest to finance your refurbishment using your cash reserves.
For very large projects or situations where cash is constrained, you may need to look at different ways to spread the cost over a number of months or years. This could be lease finance, a bank loan, asset finance or furniture rental. Check out our article explaining The 4 Best Ways to Finance Your Office Fit Out.
Why Does Office Refurbishment Matter?
Clients deciding whether to go ahead with their project or not often ask us 'Why does office refurbishment matter?'. In many cases, they are looking to understand the impact their project will have on their company. Inevitably, this is very dependent on their current office, as well as their business challenges and opportunities.
There are 8 ways in which a well-planned and executed office refurbishment will improve the performance of your company. Talent attraction and retention can be significantly improved by a great office, as can productivity, collaboration, and wellbeing. For a more detailed explanation of why office refurbishment matters for your company, read this article.
How Will We Know If Our Refurbishment Is Successful?
The final key question we often get asked is about how to judge the success of a refurbishment. This is absolutely crucial, as without knowing this, you will have no reliable way of judging if your project was worth it.
The answer is completely dependent on why you are doing the project. First and foremost, it has to resolve the issues that made you consider a refurbishment in the first place. For the project delivery to be a success, it needs to be delivered on time, on brief, and on budget. Learn more by reading 5 Steps to Office Refurbishment Success.
Got More Refurbishment Questions?
Here, we’ve gone through our answers to the most common questions we get asked by our clients when we are planning office refurbishments with them. Hopefully, we’ve given you more clarity about your potential office refurbishment needs, and what your next steps might be.
Ready to get started with your refurbishment project? Your next stop will be your very own copy of How to Plan an Office Refurbishment. You'll get a 7-step guide to help you plan your office refurbishment. This will take you from defining your brief right through to signing the contract! Get your Refurbishment Guide Here.
For more information, inspiration and insight about all things office design, explore our learning centre.
